Morgan M. Oberweiser

The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...

Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...

Close-up of a spider facing the camera with a yellow egg sac beneath it, surrounded by soil and debris. The image shows fine details of the spider’s eyes, legs, and body texture.

Arthropod Photo of the Week: October 29, 2025
Net-casting spider
Asianopis sp.
Araneae: Deinopidae
By Dennis Botterbusch, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
#arthropodPOTW

A spider with a large shield shaped abdomen that is edged in blue with red splotches across the top. He legs are red and she is standing on a leaf.

A spider with a red cephalothorax, legs, and a large abdomen edged in blue with red blotches. She is standing on a leaf facing the camera.

A spider with a red cephalothorax, legs, and a large abdomen edged in blue with red blotches. She is standing on a leaf facing the camera.

Xylethrus superbus is a fabulous species of orb weaving spider from the Amazon rainforest. While she looks a bit like a strawberry, eating her is not recommended. #Arachtober
Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador 2022

Getting close to wrapping up a big Paraphidippus aurantius 🍊video featuring courtship behavior, silk production, possible mate-guarding, cannibalism and more 🫡

here's a big female w/ a lot of orange scales - July, 2021, NE Oklahoma

✍️ noted! 😁

A stinging nettle leaf with a small subadult spider

A sunny view of a natural area with greenery and a river, with rocky cliffs in the background

And what's an arachnology conference without spiders?? I was so pleased when I found a subadult Pisaura mirabilis (my study species and the only spider I can actually identify 😅) during our excursion to Krka National Park, even though it was a bit early in the season!

A group of smiling people standing with a banner that reads "Congress of Arachnology" in front of a blue sea with low mountains in the background.

A person standing at a podium giving a talk, next to a presentation screen showing a large photo of two spiders in courtship.

A group of smiling people holding books and certificates, on a balcony with the ocean in the background.

Never too late to say that I had a fantastic time at the @35theca2025.bsky.social conference in gorgeous Zadar a few weeks ago! I met many incredible arachnid enthusiasts, presented about biotremology in a symposium on sensory biology, and was honored to be recognized with 2nd prize for my talk! 🕷️

PhD student Carolina Ortiz Movliav wins Best Oral Presentation at European Congress of Arachnology Carolina Ortiz Movliav, a PhD student at the University of Greifswald, has won the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 35th European Congress of Arachnology for her work “Winter warming inc...

Our journal congratulates @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social l for her award at @35theca2025.bsky.social !

Her work, “Winter warming increases metabolic stress and mortality in an overwintering spider,” got her a free publication in a @pensoft.net journal.

zookeys.pensoft.net/news/993

new paper, led by Lin Yan from the Elias Lab at UCB

Latent preference for red ornamentation drives interspecific mating in nascent jumping spider species (Habronattus americanus group, F. Salticidae)
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Thanks @animal-prattle.bsky.social for reminding me to post about this project🐋🎵
Mia Davitt (+ col), musician from 🇺🇸, attempted to transcribe whale sounds in Western musical style. Turns out to work quite well, so we #preprint ed these interesting results: osf.io/preprints/os...
#OSF #bioacoustics

A vivid close-up photograph of a harvestman, likely in the genus Leiobunum, perched on a lush green fern. The harvestman has a strikingly orange body with a textured, almost pebbled carapace and glossy black eyes positioned at the front of its small head. Its body is compact and oval-shaped, with several small, articulated legs near its front that seem to aid in sensing or feeding. The most visually dominant feature is its long, dark brown to nearly black legs, which radiate outward in all directions and stretch well beyond the edges of the frame, creating dynamic lines across the background. The fern beneath the animal is a rich green, with detailed, feather-like fronds. The contrast between the orange body and the cool green leaf provides a visually stunning color palette. A few tiny grains of soil or sand are scattered across the fern, adding realism to the natural setting. The image is extremely sharp, especially at the center where the body is in crisp focus, while the legs and edges show a slight blur from depth of field, emphasizing the central figure.

A likely Leiobunum sp. harvestman. Striking colors against the background here. I wish more people looked past the blur of those long legs to see the beautiful animal behind them.

#bugsky 🪲🪳🌿

Dung beetle and larvae taken by Huber et al.

Better together: sibling cooperation matters! Burying beetle larvae consistently benefited from growing up with siblings, both with & without parents. Huber et al. show that sibling interactions can play a key role in the evolution of family life. Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

My photo made it onto the cover of @pnas.org! 🎉You can read the related article about the amazing morphologies of treehoppers increasing their sensitivity to static electricity here: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

An illustrated poster showing 9 different species of velvet ants, which are actually female flightless wasps. They are mostly brownish, yellow, orange, and red in color, with various degrees of black markings. They are illustrated on a vibrant orange background.

Velvet Ants of North America! 🐜

Credit to @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social for the lovely Pisaura portrait!

Face-first view of a brown spider with long legs. He is carrying a nuptial gift (silk-wrapped prey) in his chelicerae.

The first chapter of my thesis is out now in Journal of Ethology! Check it out if you're interested in taking a deep dive into the vibrational signal of a very cute spider 🕷️〰️

Variation of vibratory performance during courtship of a cursorial spider: doi.org/10.1007/s101...

Successful hunting for these two Thomisus onustus from Dorset. I love the variation in colour of these spiders - everything from white, through various shades of pink, deep burgundy and purple or even bright yellow🩷🤍💛💜
@britishspiders.bsky.social
#om-1 #dorsetwildlife #ukwildlife
#macrophotography

silver garden orb weaver

#spider #spiders #gardenorbweaver #orbweaver #cool #art #digitaldrawing #digitalpainting #digitalart #artmoots #smallartist #ibispaint #green #vibes #sunset

A crab spider with bright yellow/green prosoma and legs and a light brown opisthosoma sits on a leaf

PhD position open with Dr. Jutta Schneider and @mherberstein.bsky.social in Hamburg, on sub-social behavior in crab spiders 🕷️ It even includes field work in Australia! Application deadline is 15 July, more info at the link:
www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

The exteriors of spider eyes are part of the exoskeleton, so can't move. But in jumping spiders, the internal parts of the large central eyes have muscles that can swivel and twist to help the spider aim its eyes from inside the head. This is a 4-frame.gif showing that internal movement. 🌿🐙🕷️👀

How spiders make high-pressure decisions Horizons - In brief

I recently gave an interview for the SNSF magazine about the fascinating world of black widow spiders. Here it is! 🕷️🕸️🦗

www.horizons-mag.ch/2025/06/05/h...

Woowwwww so impressive!! 🤩🤩

🕷️🌍🕸️ Spiders aren't creepy crawlies—they're ecosystem heroes! From pest control to biotech inspiration to key figures in our collective culture, a new review reveals the many services spiders provide:

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/brv....

(drawing by @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social)

It's a year of #headstarting for #BalticDunlins! First chicks are hatching and many more are on the way. We're trying to recover the almost extinct population breeding in coastal meadows around the #BothnianBay. Pics by Gerrit Wehrenberg
@koivulakari.bsky.social @vmpakanen.bsky.social

Peggy is a true pioneer in the field of Biotremology and has certainly had a big influence on me and my work! I really enjoyed reading more about her story 🦗〰️

Spider of the week is Philaeus chrysops Thorell, 1869

Looking for a PhD project on sexual selection? Join us at UZH!

Application deadline: 9 June 2025.

jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

Holy smokes! I've got the male too! I'm tearing up. Just heard from the scientist that described the new species and this handsome lad is the male. So awesome!
(Chrysometa chuchaqui)

Arachnid of the week: Lola insularis Kratochvíl, 1937

I know spiders aren't everyone's 'thing' but you have to admit, the Nursery-web spider is an attractive species.

@britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #wildlife #nature